Archive: Newsletter 2016

Newsletter - March 2016

Chancellor and Provost/EVC Hold Meet and Greet in School of Education

UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman and Provost/Executive Vice Chancellor Enrique Lavernia summarized their goals for UCI and answered School questions during their February 23rd Meet and Greet in the School of Education.

The role of the university as the most important engine of human progress permeated both the Chancellor and Provost's presentations.

Chancellor Gillman emphasized that UCI remains committed to "doing what we do at the highest level, matching knowledge and inquiry to sets of topics that deeply matter".

During his session with SoE faculty, staff, and doctoral students, Chancellor Gillman reviewed five of UCI's current foci:

Communication and technology transfer

Medical enterprise for human well-being

Dedication to sustainability

Arts & culture initiatives

Commitment to all children

Executive Vice Chancellor Lavernia discussed the importance of UCI's strategic plan, which defines and guides the actions for what UCI strives to become, and UCI's outstanding metrics, which enables UCI to track progress and project performance.

Both presenters emphasized the need for increased research funding in light of reduced financial commitments from other sources and acknowledged that the university faces challenges as UCI seeks to expand student enrollment while continuing to deliver exceptional education from the very best faculty.​The afternoon concluded with a reception in the School of Education's Dean's Suite.

2016 Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness Conference: SoE Presentations

This year's theme was "Lost in Translation: Building Pathways from Knowledge to Action".

The conference focused on strategies to maximize the likelihood that policy makers, funders, and practitioners will demand and use rigorous research, with a central goal of building bi-directional pathways between decision-making and evidence on educational effectiveness. These pathways, which should span the research process, include

identifying important problems of policy and practice to inspire creative new research questions,

designing relevant studies that use rigorous methods

conducting responsive and useful analyses

communicating findings to diverse audiences in clear and engaging ways

Morgan, P.L., Farkas, G., Hillemeier, M.M., & Maczuga, S. (February 22, 2016). Science achievement gaps begin very early, persist, and are largely explained by modifiable factors. Educational Researcher, 45(1), 18-35. doi: 10.3102/0013189X16633182AbstractWe examined the age of onset, over-time dynamics, and mechanisms underlying science achievement gaps in U.S. elementary and middle schools. To do so, we estimated multilevel growth models that included as predictors children’s own general knowledge, reading and mathematics achievement, behavioral self-regulation, sociodemographics, other child- and family-level characteristics (e.g., parenting quality), and school-level characteristics (e.g., racial, ethnic, and economic composition; school academic climate). Analyses of a longitudinal sample of 7,757 children indicated large gaps in general knowledge already evident at kindergarten entry. Kindergarten general knowledge was the strongest predictor of first-grade general knowledge, which in turn was the strongest predictor of children’s science achievement from third to eighth grade. Large science achievement gaps were evident when science achievement measures first became available in third grade. These gaps persisted until at least the end of eighth grade. Most or all of the observed science achievement gaps were explained by the study’s many predictors. Efforts to address science achievement gaps in the United States likely require intensified early intervention efforts, particularly those delivered before the primary grades. If unaddressed, science achievement gaps emerge by kindergarten and continue until at least the end of eighth grade.The Atlantic News Article | Huffington Post Article